Advancing the teaching of writing and improving learning in our nation’s schools.

The Northern Kentucky Writing Project (NKWP) is part of a nationwide network of university-based programs formed to advance the teaching of writing and improve learning in the nation’s schools. It operates under the auspices of both the National Writing Project and the Kentucky Writing Project, serving the students of northern Kentucky by training teachers in all academic disciplines to incorporate writing into their curricula.

It is a year like no other, a year of both personal and professional growth. When it’s done, if you apply yourself and, as Lee Iacocca advised, get all the education you can, you’ll be someone ready to not just stand there, but to make something happen. That something will be to change the lives of your students by turning them into better writers and thinkers.

The results of the National Writing Project and its affiliates have been quite striking. As noted in this research brief, students of teachers who’ve gone through National Writing Project programs like NKWP’s consistently outperform students of non-participants:

In nine independent studies, in every measured attribute of writing, the improvement of students whose teachers participated in NWP professional development exceeded that of students whose teachers were not participants…The studies took place in rural, urban, and suburban areas across the country and included students with diverse economic, language, racial, and ethnic backgrounds.

Between June 21 and July 16, 2010, NKWP will again offer a Summer Institute for teachers, along with associated programs that continue through the year and provide outreach and support activities to help those teachers apply their knowledge where it counts: in the classroom.